Cybersecurity is daily news. Data leaks and hackers are common features in the media. We tend to look to the government when things go wrong: what is the government doing about it? In this special issue we also look to the government and ask ourselves whether we are ready for the challenges of cybersecurity. Asking this question is simple. Answering it, however, requires sophisticated knowledge. This includes knowledge about the technology of today and the future. It also includes knowledge about governance. Who should be prepared in the age of distributed responsibilities? Which public and private parties can enhance cybersecurity, including you and me? Finally, what is does ‘being prepared’ mean exactly? This special issue includes three academic articles, five interviews and a column. Cybersecurity is viewed from different academic perspectives and professional positions. In its entirety, this special issue provides state-of-the-art of academic and professional thinking on government cybersecurity.

Government cybersecurity requires action from many public and private actors. Both collective knowledge and collective priority are needed to ensure cybersecurity at a government level. This makes collective learning essential. There is a system of arrangements that includes all kinds of governmental organisations and private parties. How can learning be stimulated in this system? And what is the need for steering here? This article provides answers to these questions, based on the contributions in this special issue. We conclude that both central control and self-regulation are essential to cybersecurity, even if they are in conflict. We coin the term ‘complimentary self-regulation’. We also conclude that many arrangements have been developed or are under development, however, it is difficult to institutionalise the coherence between these initiatives. There is a long road ahead in terms of gaining a collective understanding. Cybersecurity and its organisation will probably not vanish from the administrative agenda any time soon.